COMESA Activities in the Field of International Trade Statistics

Transcription

1 COMESA Activities in the Field of International Trade Statistics Anthony J. Walakira ADP Expert - Eurotrace Workshop on Updated and New Recommendations for IMTS and their Implementation in the Sub-Saharan Region 1-5 November, 2010 Lusaka-Zambia

2 Agenda: Introduction Data Sources The EUROTRACE Software Country Technical Support and Training Data Harmonisation The COMSTAT On-line database 2 Challenges and Recommendations

3 Introduction: Trade Statistics Compilation in COMESA COMESA s Mission The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional integration grouping of 19 African sovereign states which have agreed to promote regional integration through trade development and to develop their natural and human resources for the mutual benefit of all their peoples. COMESA Treaty Guiding document or master plan for the attainment of a COMESA Common Market whose overriding objective is to attain sustainable growth through the promotion of joint developmental projects and policies. 3

4 Introduction: COMESA Treaty Trade Statistics Compilation in COMESA Treaty Provisions for Statistical Development Article 139 The Member States undertake to co-operate in providing information that would enable them to review the functioning and development of the Common Market and move efficiently in the implementation of provisions of this Treaty. 4 Article 140 The Member States undertake to cooperate in the field of statistics in order to create an enabling environment for regular flows of up-to date, reliable, harmonized and comparable statistical data on various sectors of economic activity, required for an efficient implementation of the objectives of the Common Market.

5 Introduction: Trade Statistics Compilation in COMESA COMESA s Current Membership o Burundi o Eritrea o Malawi o Swaziland o Comoros o Ethiopia o Mauritius o Uganda o Congo DR o Kenya o Rwanda o Zambia o Djibouti o Libya o Seychelles o Zimbabwe o Egypt o Madagascar o Sudan 5

6 Data Sources: Trade Statistics Compilation in COMESA 6 Customs declarations:- - Single Bill of Entries (SBEs), and - related customs records.. are the most prevailing sources of trade data. Non-Customs sources of trade data Reports of Commodity/Crop Marketing Boards Informal Cross Border Trade Currency exchange records & record of monetary Authorities (Central Banks) Enterprise/Company/Market surveys Foreign shipping manifests Parcel and letter post records

7 The Eurotrace Software: 7 Data Processing software for External Trade Statistics Developed by Eurostat (free) Comprised of three applications working as a suite DBMS / Editor / COMEXT Browser Efficient and Robust: Flexibility : Full control of statistical data Fully definable control parameters Save Time: Reduce data validation time Track down and easily correct errors Help Cooperation between countries: Ensure compatibility with partner countries Enables easy transmission of data

8 The Eurotrace Software: Current Installations: In COMESA installed in 16 Member States (NSOs):- 8 Burundi Comoros Djibouti Ethiopia Eritrea Kenya Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Rwanda Seychelles Sudan Swaziland Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

9 The Eurotrace Software: Other Installations: 4 Other installations in the Region (NSOs):- Botswana Lesotho Namibia Tanzania 9

10 The Eurotrace Software: Other Installations: Installations at Customs Administrations:- Burundi Comoros Ethiopia Eritrea Kenya Madagascar Malawi Rwanda + BNR Swaziland Uganda Tanzania Zimbabwe

11 Country Technical Support and Training: Provided to countries reporting problems Technical assistance normally in use of Eurotrace Via mail/phone or mission Trouble-shooting and re-fresher training Traditional regional training workshops - 11 stopped! E-learning training modules developed

12 Country Technical Support and Training: Eurotrace e-learning e modules: New initiative in capacity building Pioneered by Eurotrace courses in 2009, (English and French) Materials available to a wider perspective of users in the region 24/7 Users from other RECs welcome to the courses Cheaper to maintain and run than traditional workshops Workshops in most cases not addressing specific country problems Mounted on COMESA Moodle e-learning platform Meant to serve as a first-stop reference for technical support 12 Ideal for new staff members working on Eurotrace!

13 Country Technical Support and Training: Sample screen of Eurotrace e-learning e modules: 13

14 Data Harmonisation: The Harmonisation process at COMESA Trade Statistics Compilation in COMESA Country codes converted to ISO3166 if not and validated HS codes trimmed to 6 digits of HS02/HS07 and validated Trade flows and types determined according to CPC Values in national currencies converted to USD Country file trimmed to structure of COMSUM according to General Trade System Country file grouped on coded fields and summed on numeric Residual data file uploaded to COMSTAT 14 Data validation and harmonization tool developed

15 The COMSTAT Validation Tool Above process initially performed manually In 2009, a consultant engaged to automate process COMSTAT Validation Tool developed Tool used to validate data for 2009

16 The COMSTAT On-line Database: 16 COMesaSTATistics Online interactive database Designed to disseminate statistics of various domains that are critical for monitoring the performance of COMESA s regional integration program Launched late in 2006, to staff 2007 opened up to the public

17 The COMSTAT On-line Database: Objective COMSTAT was designed with an overall objective of providing users with online access to the statistical repository database of the Secretariat 17

18 Challenges and Recommendations: 18 Staff turnover o Re-fresher trainings and technical support o E-learning initiatives Low levels of cooperation : Customs NSOs Other o Establish/strengthen necessary institutional arrangements Under/miss Coverage o Use of different data sources o Proper definition and use of Trade Systems Data Quality : Volumes Values Partners o Recording of weights, quantities and supplementary units o Recording of second partner country o Compilation of FOB imports in addition to CIF o Develop and use principles and standards for data quality (DQAF)

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